Java Technical Lead

Java Technical LeadFinancial Services | Java | Distributed Systems | AWSSalary - up to £115k + bonus + cash benefitsHybrid - Currently 2 days per month in the officeAn opportunity has arisen for an experienced Java Backend Software Engineer/ Technical Lead to join a leading financial services organisation, working on the design, development and modernisation of complex, business-critical technology platforms.This role is suited to a highly capable, hands-on engineer with deep expertise in Core Java, multithreading, distributed systems and AWS, who enjoys solving challenging engineering problems and building scalable, high-performance applications.Working within an established engineering team, you will play a key role in shaping technical solutions, influencing architectural decisions and delivering resilient software that supports critical business operations.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign, develop and deliver robust, scalable backend applications using Java and Spring.Engineer complex distributed systems with a focus on performance, concurrency, resilience and availability.Apply deep Core Java knowledge, including collections, multithreading, memory management and garbage collection optimisation.Design and implement microservices and cloud-native solutions leveraging AWS.Contribute to architectural decisions, technical design reviews and the evaluation of engineering trade-offs.Drive software engineering best practices across code quality, automated testing, CI/CD and production reliability.Collaborate with principal engineers, architects and business stakeholders to translate complex requirements into effective technical solutions.Mentor engineers, provide technical guidance and contribute to a culture of engineering excellence.Explore opportunities to leverage AI and modern development tooling to improve engineering productivity.Required Skills & ExperienceCore Java: Strong hands-on expertise in Java fundamentals, collections, concurrency, multithreading, garbage collection and JVM performance.Spring: Extensive experience developing enterprise-grade backend applications using Spring and Spring Boot.Distributed Systems: Proven experience designing and building scalable, resilient distributed applications and microservices.AWS: Commercial experience developing, deploying and supporting cloud-based applications using AWS.Financial Services: Previous software engineering experience within banking or financial services is essential.Software Architecture: Strong understanding of design patterns, scalability, performance optimisation and modern engineering principles.Databases: Experience with relational databases, ideally Oracle or PostgreSQL.Technical Leadership: Ability to influence technical decisions, mentor engineers and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.Desirable ExperienceKafka or other event-driven messaging technologies.Kubernetes, containerisation and cloud-native deployment.CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation and DevOps practices.Exposure to LLMs, machine learning, agentic AI or AI-assisted software engineering.Experience working in Agile engineering environments.